POSTED: April 3rd 2012

ViewPoint

London mayoral race heating up ahead of next month's elections

Boris Johnson received the flag in Beijing now who will pass it to Rio 2016? / SFC

LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications

TAMPA: The stakes are high and the fight to maintain the seat of mayor has encumbant Boris Johnson clashing with former mayor and candidate Ken Livingstone over a number of topics.

Livingstone served as mayor 2000-2008 during the bidding phase for London 2012 and Johnson took over after that with his term running out next month just weeks before the start of the London Games.

At the Beijing 2008 closing ceremony tradition has it that the mayor of the host city passes the Olympic flag to the mayor of the next host city.

Johnson had only been mayor since May 2nd just a couple of months when he received the flag, but now the question is who will win on the 3rd of May and have the honor in London of passing it on to Rio 2016?

There are a number of candidates in the running namely Johnson (Conservative Party) lookig for re-election, Ken Livingstone (Labour Party), Brian Paddock (Liberal Democrat), Jenny Jones (Green Party), Siobhan Benita (Independent), and Lawrence Webb (UK Independence Party).

Keywords · London 2012 · Boris Johnson · Ken Livingstone · Mayor of London · summer Olympics

For more information contact:
Laura Walden ()

All original materials contained in this section are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Sports Features Communications, Inc the owner of that content. It is prohibited to alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.